


A Christmas Conversation

by tobeferre



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Established Relationship, How Do I Tag, Midorima is mentioned but he isn't actually in this, Multi, Swearing, Takao and Akashi clearly needed to talk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 09:29:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13143816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tobeferre/pseuds/tobeferre
Summary: Takao and Akashi have a conversation.Set in the same 'verse as It's Not Like That, but it can be read alone!





	A Christmas Conversation

**Author's Note:**

> [EDITED] This was previously going to be a Christmas fic, but basically that didn't work out so now it's a one-shot. Takao and Akashi needed to talk. XD

"Takao Kazunari." 

Kazunari presses his cheek further into his pillow and frowns without opening his eyes. That's weird. That doesn't sound like his mother's voice. 

Although it does sound familiar...

"Takao."

It doesn't sound like his sister, either. Kazunari'd recognise her dulcet tones anywhere. (He's been hearing it since she was born, that's twelve years of screaming he's had to tolerate, it's no joke.) (He loves Kazuha, but honestly, sometimes her voice goes through his head and it is pure. _Torture_.) 

_"Takao."_

And it's definitely not Midorima Shintarou.

That settles it, really, because anyone who isn't Shin-chan or Kazunari's family can go jump in a lake before Kazunari wakes up for them, and that's that.

"Five more minutes," Kazunari mumbles into his pillow. 

"Kazunari."

Oh, for god's sake.

With all the fury of an irate Miyaji Kiyoshi, Kazunari lurches to a sitting position—eyes still closed, because whoever it is calling for him can deal with him half-asleep for waking him up on a goddamn Saturday morning—grimaces at the taste of sleep on his tongue, and says, _"what."_

"Good. I was beginning to think this trip would be unfortunately unsuccessful, but it seems it will have been worth my while after all."

First of all, who the _hell_ —

Kazunari opens his eyes.

"Good morning," says Akashi Seijuurou pleasantly from the doorway.

Kazunari does not shriek. He most definitely doesn't.

"I wouldn't recommend doing that again," Akashi says, calmly removing his hands from his ears, the bastard. "Your sister is still asleep, and your father—"

_"What the fuck are you doing here,"_ Kazunari says, clutching his blankets to his chest. His heart is still beating a mile a minute from the shock, because _actual Akashi Seijuurou_ is standing _outside his room_ , and—"why are you even— _how did you get in my house?_ "

"The same way everyone else does, I presume," Akashi says dryly. His hands are tucked into his pockets, his head tilted as he stares at Kazunari, mildly curious. "Through the door, unless you are accustomed to climbing in through the windows." 

"Through the—"

"May I come in?" 

Without waiting for permission, Akashi crosses the threshold, pulls out Kazunari's chair from his desk, and seats himself primly on it, folding his hands neatly in his lap. Kazunari gapes, still trying to wrap his head around the concept of Akashi Seijuurou in his house, in his room, _in his chair_ , because what the _actual_ —

Akashi is regarding the armrest of Kazunari's chair with interest. Too late Kazunari realises he's looking at the stickers Kazuha's plastered it with as payback for the time Kazunari decided using her stuffed toys for shooting practice was a good idea.

"Are these Hello Kitty?" Akashi says mildly.

"The _fuck_ ," is all Kazunari can come up with. 

Akashi blinks, seeming to come to his senses, then looks down at the stickers again. (Kazunari's already filled Kazuha's bed with fake spiders for that one, but maybe he needs to up his game. Really bring on the big guns. Pour glitter in her pencil case, since _Akashi Seijuurou_ himself is here to witness the never-ending insanity that is the Takao Sibling Prank War.) "I do hope I'm not intruding," he says almost apologetically, looking up to face him a second later—like he didn't literally almost scare the living daylights out of Kazunari and barge into his room like an actual psychopath—and Kazunari finds himself switching tracks from _why the fuck is Akashi Seijuurou in my house_ to being suddenly all too aware that he's face to face with _Akashi Seijuurou_ , and oh, _hell_. 

Look, Takao Kazunari is perfectly fine being Takao Kazunari. He's fine looking the way he is, being the way he is, being perceived the way he is. He grins at his reflection in the mirror sometimes when he washes his hands. He has a healthy amount of self-respect, even with Midorima's constant assurances that Kazunari is in fact a moron and a fool (and Shin-chan doesn't count because Shin-chan is Shin-chan, i.e. adorably, endearingly bad at showing affection).

(Also, actually dating Kazunari.)

_(Ha.)_

So yeah, Kazunari has a healthy amount of self-esteem.

It's just.  

All the self-esteem in the world kind of just crumbles to nothing in the face of calm red eyes and condescending smiles.

( _"I still can't believe you loved Akashi,"_ Kazunari'd said over dinner last week. _"Okay, yeah, it lasted like two seconds, but of all your weirdo Teikou teammates—"_

_"As I've told you time and again, it was not love,"_ Midorima had said with an exasperated sigh. _"Takao—"_

_"And this is?"_

_"What?"_

_"Love?"_

_"...Hmph."_ )

Look, Kazunari doesn't even care about Midorima's ex-crush on his ex-captain anymore. (Mostly.) Shin-chan is incapable of being anything but 100% earnest about anything he says, so if Shin-chan says he never loved Akashi, then Shin-chan never loved Akashi. Therefore. Kazunari has no reason to be jealous. And he isn't jealous. It's not that.

It's just—

Kazunari can still remember the aftermath of their match last year. (Like he's likely to forget.) How Akashi’s eyes, red and gold and cold, had glowed almost metallic as he’d gazed at the scoreboard. How his lips had quirked in a small, victorious smile. How he’d refused to shake Midorima's hand.

(How it’d felt, crashing onto hard, unyielding floorboards under the glare of the stadium lights. How it’d felt, seeing the seniors grin against barely-masked disappointment. Crying, seeing _Midorima Shintarou_ cry, how vulnerable he seemed in the light of it, Teikou’s formidable, inimitable ace shooter reduced to just another sixteen-year-old boy with a basketball.)

(The look on Midorima’s face as he’d fallen flat on his back, Akashi breezing past with the ball...)

Kazunari’s hands curl into fists around his bedsheets. 

He isn't jealous. He's pissed off.

In front of him, Akashi gives a polite cough. Maybe that goddamn Emperor Eye or whatever it is he has can see how much Kazunari wants to punch him in the face. “I apologise for not making this visit sooner.” 

“Yeah, your timing could _use some work_.”

“My apologies,” says Akashi, not looking apologetic in the least. “I was under the impression that ten AM was late enough for most people to be awake. I’ve been told sleeping late is bad for the health.”

The bastard.

“You know,” Kazunari says conversationally, “As much as I really love being woken up on a pleasant Saturday morning to be preached to about my sleeping habits, I’m still not hearing anything about the point of your visit.” 

Akashi smiles, tilts his head to the side and regards Kazunari almost inquisitively, like he's mildly amused. His red eyes glint. Kazunari feels his lip curl. 

Would Shin-chan mind terribly if Kazunari just so happened to accidentally knock Akashi out the window?

"How interesting. I do see why Shintarou enjoys your company." 

Shintarou. It's almost a caress, the way Akashi pronounces it. How it rolls off his tongue so casually, far more intimate than Akashi deserves after how he's treated Midorima. Something in Kazunari's stomach twists. He pictures knocking out Akashi's teeth with his knuckles, smiles blandly. 

"Do you," he says.

"Again with the sarcasm. Must you, Kazunari?"

 They haven't used the rear-cart since they started dating, but Shin-chan will probably make Kazunari pull the thing for a week if Akashi emerges from the Takao apartment sporting bruises and a black eye. Kazunari has to behave. He exhales coolly, fixes Akashi with a blank stare through the slow broil of fury in his stomach. "I'm sorry, I didn't realise we were so familiar with each other, Akashi."

Akashi raises his eyebrows. Kazunari has to remind himself not to do anything stupid. "How hostile. I didn't come to pick a fight, I assure you." 

"Which brings us back to the question of why the fuck _are_ you here," Kazunari says pleasantly, and whoop-de-fucking-do, there goes Kazunari's resolution to be nice to Rakuzan's resident demon, what an absolute shame. 

Not that that was ever going to stick to begin with. 

"Language," Akashi says.

"Fuck you."

"Why? Are Shintarou's skills not adequate?"

What the _actual_ —

Kazunari feels his mouth drop open.

"How the hell do you know about that?" He demands, when he finds his voice again. It's not like they've been keeping it a secret, but he and Midorima have explicitly told (and sworn to secrecy, because Japan isn't exactly the most open of places when it comes to these things) only a handful of people about their (non-sexual as of yet, _thank you very much_ ) relationship, of which precisely none are Akashi Seijuurou, what the hell—

"I have my ways," Akashi says, and is that a glimmer of amusement in his eyes? "And there is the fact that the two of you were quite obviously caught in limbo for a rather excruciating period of time. I must say this comes as something of a relief."

"You—"

 Akashi smiles, and this time he definitely does look smug. He's enjoying this, the little shit. "My express congratulations, of course."

Kazunari takes a breath. He doesn't know what to think. He's basically stolen Akashi's green-haired ace shooter from within his psychotic clutches, there's got to be no way he's completely fine with it. One man's territory, and all that. 

Also, Akashi's not homophobic.

Huh.

"You sound sincere," he says finally, wary.

Akashi winces, red eyes flitting shut. (See, demon. What else has red eyes?) He sits up a little straighter, sets his shoulders. Kazunari tenses. "You must think me a terrible person."

"I haven't seen anything to the contrary, no."

Akashi dips his head. "Understandable. I have not been...the nicest person to you. Or Shintarou. Anyone, as of late." 

_Not the nicest person._ Try _a complete asshole._  

"I was under the impression that you and Shin-chan were friends," Kazunari says lightly. "Not sure your brand of ankle-breaking is something I would do to any one of my buddies, Akashi." 

"It was dishonourable of me," Akashi acknowledges. He doesn't do anything as undignified as frown (because probably Akashi Seijuurou has never done anything so common as _look upset_ ), but his mouth does grow taut at the corners. "Shintarou used to be my closest friend, Kazunari—"

_"Stop calling me that—"_                    

"What I did at the Winter Cup last year was unforgivable. Especially so in the light of our friendship." Akashi's eyes flash with something unfathomable. Kazunari could almost swear it's remorse. 

Well, that's tragic. Kazunari has very little sympathy. 

"Why are you telling me this," he says. Shin-chan should hear from Akashi's own lips how sorry he is. "Tell him yourself, if that's what you're after."

"Can you imagine how that would go down?" Akashi says, expression morphing into an almost rueful smile. "We are friends, yes, but we are also rivals. And he lost our last personal—showdown, shall we say? Shintarou is a very proud person, as you well know. It would feel like salt in a wound. My apologising because he wasn't good enough." 

Kazunari opens his mouth to retaliate, realises Akashi has a point, and shuts it again. Damn him for being right. 

Akashi clears his throat. "The reason I'm telling you this at all is because—well, Shintarou is my friend." His gaze flickers for a moment, almost too quickly to catch. "And I haven't managed to make anything better for him the last year or so. The same goes for all our Teikou teammates, really. I'm afraid my leadership was a big part of why they are...what they are. I'd like to make amends. They deserve to be happy."

Kazunari blinks. 

Akashi glances down at his hands, pausing for a moment, then looks back up again. "Kazunari—" he tilts his head, gaze fixed on Kazunari, eyes calm now—"you make Shintarou happy." 

"I—what," Kazunari says, because. _What._

"Shintarou is the happiest I've seen him in a while," Akashi says around the beginnings of a small smile. Kazunari blinks. "It's not only you, of course—Shuutoku's first string is very close, I see, it has evidently done him good to have made friends. But going back to my point, Shintarou is happy." His smile flattens as he refocuses on Kazunari; Kazunari sees his eyes glint with the shadow of the steel that made him the first first-year captain in the history of Rakuzan. "And I would appreciate it if he stayed that way."

Huh.

Okay, Kazunari would probably be actually intimidated if Akashi wasn't currently surrounded by hundreds of pink cartoon cats, but like.

He lifts his chin and stares back at Akashi, even. "I don't think you have to worry about that." 

Akashi smiles, then. Red eyes blink at Kazunari, almost lazy. "Excellent. I was hoping you'd say that." 

"So let me get this straight," Kazunari says before he can help himself. "Was this whole thing just the best friend talk? 'Hurt him and I'll hurt you'?" 

Akashi's smile widens. Kazunari is reminded irresistably of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland. "Now that you mention it, not particularly. I did have the vague idea of talking to you about Shintarou, coming here this morning, but not really, no." 

Kazunari looks at him incredulously. "Then what—"

"I was in the vicinity when Tetsuya rang with an invitation," Akashi says. "Apparently Kagami Taiga has a Christmas party planned. Or Seirin's coach has a Christmas party planned and coerced Kagami into giving up his apartment for the day, Tetsuya wasn't very clear on the details. I said I would pass the message along." 

_Christmas._

"It's Christmas," Kazunari says out loud in wonder. 

(Of course it is. He knew this yesterday before he went to sleep, Akashi just messed everything up with his arrival and shocking Kazunari into waking up, but—) "God, it's Christmas," he says again.

Akashi raises his eyebrows, looking amused. "Yes, it is. It even looks as though we have a white one this year."

Kazunari's eyes catch on the window behind Akashi, where—sure enough—fat flakes of snow are falling softly past the panes. 

It's snowing. In _Tokyo._  

It's _Christmas._  

Kazunari feels a giant grin spread across his face. 

"Well, I should be going," Akashi says, rising gracefully from Kazunari's chair. "Give my best to Shintarou when he arrives. I'll see you both at the party, I assume?" 

Wait. "How do you know Shin-chan's coming over?" Kazunari says, bewildered. Another alarming thought occurs to him, and he sits bolt upright, eyes widening. "Wait, _fuck_ , you said you were in the vicinity— _how do you know where I live?_ "

"Details," Akashi says airily, moving over to the door. "Your sister has excellent taste in stickers, by the way." His expression flickers for a second, and Kazunari swears he sees a look of immeasurable sadness pass over his face before it's gone again. "My mother used to love Hello Kitty."  

Kazunari is almost spooked. "Akashi—"

"I'll see myself out," Akashi says, looking up. He smiles. "I'll see you both tonight."

And then he's gone. 

**Author's Note:**

> I was planning to post something earlier, but exams and life got in the way :( But anyway, kudos to you if you read till the end, I know it's not exactly a conventional shippy fic! I just felt like Akashi and Takao had a lot to hash out. XD
> 
> There'll be more Christmas and also Kagami and Kuroko in the next chapter, which will be up hopefully before the 12 days of Christmas are over *crosses fingers*
> 
> EDIT: hahahahahahaha "before the 12 days of Christmas," I said. Anyway, this was previously going to be a chaptered fic, but what i wrote basically didn't mesh at all with this ._. so I've decided to put it in another fic (Christmas Miracles). Sorryyy!


End file.
